Pay-Per-Minute Airline to Debut In South Africa

I wish there were more of this sort of thing. Wired is reporting on a new airline in South Africa called iFly Airtime that it says is trying to begin flying soon. The airline uses a model similar to pay-as-you-go cell phone service. You buy minutes and use them toward travel. The cost of minutes can change with the market, so you can try to buy when rates are low. The main benefit, as I see it, is that you pay as you go rather than based on some seemingly arbitrary airline pricing formula that allows for a flight to Tokyo to cost the same as one to Chattanooga.

According to the iAfrica.com article linked by Wired, the airline was planning on starting flights on 18 January. From the lack of information on the iFly Airtime web site, it appears they have not met their goal.

One interesting aspect of the airline's business model is that they work in partnership with cellular carriers. Again from iAfrica.com, "Passengers will buy a cellphone starter pack with minutes, and if these minutes are not traded in for flights within a year, they can be converted back into airtime for all three of South Africa's cellphone networks; Vodacom, MTN and Cell C." I hope that means one could buy cell phone minutes and convert them to and from airline minutes.

I'll be watching this as a possible way to get around South Africa during the World Cup, and, hopefully, as a cell phone plan to hook up with friends over there. It would be great to bank a bunch of minutes here in the states and then be able to use them to book flights as needed.